Best PlacesRutland, VT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rutland, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Rutland ranks 15,210th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Rutland
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Rutland's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rutland ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 96% of towns
- Short commute16.5 minutes each way, better than 96% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 92% of towns
Where Rutland ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,493 a month, better than only 4% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 14% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rutland
A household needs to earn about $61,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rutland home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $68,426, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Rutland's effective rate of 1.98%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Rutland
Rutland runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Rutland.
Who works in Rutland, and how
Work in Rutland centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Rutland
Rutland has more restaurants and bars per resident than 88% of towns and more parkland per resident than 95% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Rutland and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Rutland, month by month
Rutland sees roughly 99 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 23° | 14° |
| April | 57° | 44° | 33° |
| July | 83° | 71° | 59° |
| October | 63° | 51° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Rutland
The nearest airport, Rutland/Southern Vermont Regional, is about 6 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 117 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rutland
Schools across Rutland average a C, better than 41% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Putnam Central SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Whitehall Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Mary J Tanner Primary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Rutland Middle SchoolD− · 14% proficient
Top high schools
- Granville Junior-senior High SchoolA− · 65% proficient
- Whitehall Junior-senior High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
- Rutland Senior High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rutland school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rutland measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Rutland against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Rutland
Is Rutland a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rutland ranks 15,210th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, transit, and biking, and lowest on property taxes and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rutland expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $201,273. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $68,426 median income, cost of living beats 39% of towns.
Is Rutland safe?
Rutland is safer than 36% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $386 per resident a year.
Compare Rutland with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rutland. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rutland represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Rutland detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rutland: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rutland: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rutland: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rutland: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rutland detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.